Children of Violence

novel by Lessing

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June 24, 2026

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The "Children of Violence" series is a collection of five novels by Doris Lessing. The series centers on the fictional protagonist Martha Quest, tracing her life from adolescence to middle age. The novels in the series are Martha Quest (1952), A Proper Marriage (1954), A Ripple from the Storm (1958), Landlocked (1965), and The Four-Gated City (1969). These works explore the social and political upheavals of the 20th century through Martha's experiences as she grows up in southern Africa and later settles in England.12

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Doris Lessing
…substantial works is the series Children of Violence (1952–69), a five-novel sequence that centres on Martha Quest, who grows up in southern Africa and settles in England. The Golden Notebook (1962), in which a woman writer attempts to come to terms with the life of her times through her art,…
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…substantial works is the series Children of Violence (1952–69), a five-novel sequence that centres on Martha Quest, who grows up in southern Africa and settles in England. The Golden Notebook (1962), in which a woman writer attempts to come to terms with the life of her times through her art,…
Read More